The most common prior art involves the connection of daughterboards at a right angle to a motherboard forming a "cage", but it is also known to connect the daughterboards so that they are parallel to the motherboard. In such an arrangement, it is common to have both a primary connector connected to one end of the daughterboard and a secondary connector at the opposite end. It is frequently desirable to connect the daughterboard to the primary connector first and then to the secondary connector, a practice known as "staging". This would be true in situations where power staging is desired in order to insure that the daughterboard is first connected to power and ground before making other connections or for other reasons.
One electrical connector for printed circuit boards is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,185,882. It provides one type of connector in which a daughterboard can be connected parallel to the motherboard. The particular arrangement mates the electrical spring contact with the face of the daughterboard which is facing away from the motherboard. The spring contacts provide some force for holding the daughterboard in place, but unfortunately the springs are exposed when the daughterboard is in place. The spring contacts are exposed to an even greater extent when no daughterboard is inserted. Such exposure increases the likelihood that a spring contact will be bent or otherwise damaged.